Blue Jays R.A. Dickey Takes Daniel Norris’ Home for a Joy Ride

In a clubhouse that probably had some tension after the loss of Marcus Stroman to a season ending knee injury, things lightened up today for the Toronto Blue Jays when knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey stole Daniel Norris’ home and drove it around the infield.

Norris, a candidate for a starting rotation job after Stroman’s injury, is famous for living in a 1978 VW Westfalia camper van despite being the proud recipient of a $2 million signing bonus from the Jays.

The van, named “Shaggy”, is essentially the same as how he bought it with the addition of a bed and solar panels. Norris is an avid outdoorsman and shares his #VanLife with his 40,000+ twitter followers who are amazed by someone who theoretically could have any house or car he wanted but chooses to live life driving around in a van that predates his birth by over a decade. Never mind that he is eating, sleeping and living out of it. His story intrigues people enough that Vice shot a to-be-released documentary on his life in the van.

The man behind the wheel of the van today was fellow beard connoisseur Dickey who “got shaggy to second base” and hopefully lightened the mood of a playoff hopeful clubhouse that has been plagued with bad luck so far this spring training.

There of course were no worries of Dickey hurting his ulnar collateral ligament while driving the van which has no power steering. Dickey, entering his 19th season in professional baseball, was born without a UCL, the ligament replaced every time a player goes under the knife for Tommy John surgery.

No word if the van got stuck on any sprinkler head divots while out on the field.